Thursday, March 17, 2016

Security In Iraq, March 8-14, 2016

High levels of violence continued in Iraq during the second
week of March 2016. While the number of reported incidents was down from the
previous week, they were still above the months before. The government’s effort
to clear Ramadi’s suburbs continued with new operations in Haditha and Hit in
western Anbar. Baghdad remained the main target of the Islamic State, while it
launched a new wave of attacks upon the Peshmerga and civilians in Kirkuk and
Ninewa that included chemical rockets. Fighting also continued in northern
Salahaddin, and the Turks claimed to have killed a large number of Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters in Kurdistan. All together that kept casualties
high during the week.

There were 168 reported security incidents in Iraq from
March 8-14, 2016. That was down from the 183 the first week of the month. So
far, there have been average of 25.0 incidents per day versus 18.9 in February,
19.2 in January, and 17.8 in December.

As usual Baghdad had the most incidents with 68. There were
also 22 in Anbar, 19 in Ninewa, 17 in Salahaddin, 16 in Diyala, 15 in Kirkuk,
10 in Babil, and 1 in Kurdistan.

Those led to 404 deaths and 415 injuries. 2 Asayesh, 4
Sahwa, 8 Hashd al-Shaabi, 11 members of ex-Governor Nujafi’s Hashd, 22
Peshmerga, 62 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), 67 Kurdistan Workers’
Party (PKK) fighters, and 228 civilians were killed. 2 Nujafi Hashd, 2 Asayesh,
7 Sahwa, 20 Peshmerga, 22 Peshmerga and PKK fighters, 28 Hashd, 63 ISF, and 271
civilians were also wounded. The real number of casualties is always higher
than gets in the press. For example there are usually two to four times as many
wounded as killed, but there were 62 ISF deaths and 63 injured during the week
showing that the authorities are suppressing their losses.

Anbar had the most deaths with 109. There were 94 more in
Ninewa, 88 in Baghdad, 67 in the KRG, 14 in Kirkuk, 13 in Salahaddin, 11 in
Babil, and 8 in Diyala.

The government and the Islamic State remained focused upon
the battle in Anbar. The Iraqi forces’ main effort was still in the Ramadi
area. Zankura for the third
time, Asriya,
Safiriya,
Dour, Qotniya, Albu Taiban were all cleared, and Hamidiya again after
it was freed in February. Albu
Obeid was entered as well. The government has slowly increased its hold
upon the Ramadi district, and kept IS on the run. The sweep from northern Anbar
to Haditha
continued with the joint forces claiming to be just outside the besieged town,
along with the a new move on Kubaisa
in the Garma district. A new front was also opened against Hit. Three
towns around Amiriya Fallujah in southeast Anbar were cleared as well. IS
responded with 18 attacks in the Khalidiya, Garma, Ramadi, and Amiriya Fallujah
areas. Three car bombs hit the security forces killing 25 and wounding 20. IS
also appeared to have tried to set a trap for Iraqi forces. In the middle of
the week, there were reports
that IS fighters were withdrawing from Kubaisa, Hit, and Rutba. The next
day however they moved back in. The mayor of Rutba thought that IS was
trying to test the loyalty of the locals to see if any would turn on the group.
A security source told New
Sabah that what actually happened was that the insurgents were hoping to
lure the security forces into those towns and then ambush them. That didn’t
work, but it shows that IS is not completely disheveled in the governorate. The
joint forces claimed they killed 1 suicide bomber and destroyed 8 car bombs. IS
reportedly executed
50 people in Fallujah, which led to a clash with a local tribe. 10 bodies of civilians
were also found
in the rubble in Ramadi that were killed during the operation to free it.

In Babil, violence remained at a low level, but IS was still
hitting markets. Three were bombed with IEDs during the week killing 6 people
and wounding 22. All of the attacks remained in the north where IS retreated
after it lost its base in Jurf al-Sakhr.

Security in Baghdad remained precarious with 68 incidents.
The south was the most violent sector again with 31 incidents, 28 of which were
probably the work of IS. After that there were 14 in the west, 10 in the north,
9 in the east, and 4 in the center. As usual there were a mix of actors
responsible with 3 kidnappings, 4 major robberies, and 20 bodies being dumped
in the streets pointing towards criminals, vigilantes, and Hashd as the likely
culprits.

Diyala was the scene of more mortar fire and a wave of
kidnappings. Like the previous week, IS was firing mortars on a number of towns
including Muqtadiya and Abu Saida. There were also four reported kidnappings in
Muqtadiya, and in two other areas. That was a sign of the growing lawlessness
in the country that is spreading due to the war. Since many of the security
forces are fighting the insurgents that has opened space for criminals to act.

The Islamic State is trying a new tactic by firing rockets
with chlorine and mustard gas at Kurdish positions and towns in the north.
Kirkuk witnessed two such attack during the week in Taza. The first incident
ended up killing three and wounding 59, and the other left 8 hurt. Some press
reports have the injured in the hundreds, but that appears to be the number of
people who went to the hospital to be checked, not the figure for how many
actually had to be treated. Six suicide bombers were
also reportedly killed in an attack upon the Peshmerga south of Kirkuk, and
there was a story that tribes in Hawija
got into a gunfight with IS. In that later town IS executed
another three people in its crackdown on the population there.

Violence between Turkey and its Kurdish population has
continued to increase in recent weeks. That has led to a new round of Turkish
air strikes upon Kurdistan where the PKK has bases. Ankara claimed that one
killed 67
PKK fighters in the middle of the week.

Ninewa witnessed more executions, insurgent attacks, a new
offensive by Yazidi militias in Sinjar, and the continued buildup of forces for
the eventual Mosul offensive. First, IS executed another 45 people in the Mosul
and Tal Afar areas. It also carried out ten attacks in the province. That
included a chemical rocket attack in Gwar,
three suicide bombers, mortar fire on Sinjar,
rockets on Zilkan,
and attacks on checkpoints. In total, 1 Hashd, 11 members of ex-Governor
Nujafi’s Hashd, and 22 Peshmerga were killed, and another 2 Nujafi Hashd, 4
Hashd, 20 Peshmerga, and 22 Peshmerga and PKK fighters were injured. Yazidi
militias started an effort to retake villages in western
Sinjar. Finally, more
troops from the 15th Division arrived at their new base in
Mkhamour. Iraqi soldiers have been arriving for months now for the planned push
on Mosul.

IS had a renewed level of operations in Salahaddin, while
the government was continuing its sweep through the Samarra district. That
included 13 attacks on the security forces in places like Siniya and Baiji, the
Ajeel and Alas oil fields, and the Hamrin and Makhoul Mountains. The security
forces claimed they destroyed three car and bulldozer bombs in the process. They
were also involved in the on going effort to clear
the western Samarra district. This is focused upon all of the rural and desert
areas that stretch from the city to Anbar, and is aimed at cutting off IS
supply lines from western to northern Iraq.

There were a total of 17 car bombs reported during the
second week of March. Three reached their targets all in Anbar, and a fourth
was being defused when it exploded in Kirkuk. A total of 27 people were killed
and 22 wounded all from the security forces. This weeks statistics appeared
much more believable then the week before when the joint forces claimed 46 car
bombs with some obvious examples of exaggeration for propaganda purposes.

Iraq History Timeline

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com